bird knitter

Wed, 2007-01-03 16:14 — kylewilliam

does anyone know of an artist that might be named "annette mensaje" - maybe from France that at some point in the late '80s or early '90s collected dead birds from the city (either NY or Paris) and knitted them all sweaters for use in an art installation? I just was talking with a client and she was telling me about it, then she left, and I'm totally intrigued about this - does anyone have a clue what this is and if so, can you provide any links or info on the artist?

Comments

"One way in which Messager questioned social hierarchies was through her unique and open use of art materials. Her materials included paint, found objects, metal, photos, colored pencils, embroidery, crayons, toys, books, and stuffed animals. One clear example is her piece Boarders at Rest (1971-72) in which she has taken many dead birds and knitted small sweaters and outfits for them to wear. She uses simple techniques that she has said even "a child could do." Furthermore, the act of caring for these dead birds ironically point Messager’s maternal instinct. As a girl, Messager’s family assumed that she would be a typical upper class domestic woman. They were certain that she would marry and raise a family. (Bradford) By knitting these little sweaters which are useless and awkward, she subtly subverts her family’s expectations for her identity. This piece references the ways that she rethinks hierarchical positions within society. She also treats these dead birds in a way that is ritualistic. This act of using dead animals and then mocking rituals that a mother might have with her children relates to ideas about pollution that Mary Douglas writes about in her book Purity and Danger. Messager breaks boundaries that viewers have about life and death. The birds are beautiful and vulnerable and while dead. Our culture tends to find dead animals repulsive and "dangerous" yet she changes them into art objects. She subverts the commercial art system by using dead birds instead of more common art materials. By showing the birds and selling them as art, she seems to be mocking the hierarchies within the commercial notion of art."